Phonograph cabinet



March 10, 1925.

' W. G. SHIPMAN PHONOGRAPH CABINET s Sheets-Sheet i Fkiled April 20, 1923 bll |||ll 1 III II ll lllllllll IIIIIIIIJIIIIIIIIIIII gwuenkw anew March 10, 1925.

W. G. SHIPMAN PHONOGRAPH dABINET.

Filed April 20, 1925 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 March 10. 1925."

W. G. SHIPMAN PHONOG-RAPH CABINET 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed April 20, 1925 gwuemkoz 61cm 11 (M15 Patented Mar. 10, 1925.

UNITED STATES 1,529,221 PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM G. SHIPMAN, OF HIGH POINT, NORTH CAROLINA; HAZEL FISHER- SHIPMAN ADMINISTRATRIX OF THE ESTATE OF SAID WILLIAM G. SHIPMAN', DECEASED.

PHONOGRAPI-I CABINET.

Application filed April 20, 1923. Serial No. 633,529.

To all 10720172 it may concern:

Be it known that I, W'ILLIAH G. SHIPMAN, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of High Point, in the county of Guilford and State of North Carolina, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Phonograph Cabinets; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

The object of my invention is to provide a novel mechanism whereby when the lid or top of a phonograph cabinet is raised the doors of the record compartment of the cabinet will be raised and the records projected so that any desired record may be easily withdrawn, the records being retracted and the doors closed when the top islowered. A further object of the invention is tov so construct and arrange the mechanism that the records will be. firmly supported in either the projected or retracted position and may be moved from one to the other position without being damaged, and another object of the invention is to provide a sim ple, inexpensive and automaticmechanism for the stated purpose which may be embodicd in any phonograph cabinet without detracting from the appearance of the cabinet or requiring extensive structural changes therein. These stated objects and other objects which will appear in the course of the following description are attained in such an apparatus as isillustrated in the accompanying drawings, and the invention resides in certain novel features which will be particularly pointed out in the appended claims. a

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a front elevation of a cabinet equipped with my improvements, the top being raised;

Figure 2 is a side elevation, the rear wall of the cabinet being removed and the closed position being indicated by full lines and t-heopen position by dotted lines; a

Figure 3 is a horizontal section on the line 3-3 of Figure 2, full lines showing the position of the parts when the doors are closed and dotted lines showing the position when the doors are open. I a

The cabinet 1 is illustrated as of a conventional upright type having a top 2 hinged at its back to swing up and down and having doors 3 hinged at their outer side edges to the front of the cabinet so as to close the front of the record compartment 4: or swing outwardly and permit access to the records. Across the front of the record compartment there is, preferably, provided a series of vertical partitions. 5 which form guides and .lateral supports for the records, indicated at 6, and between the lower end of each two adjacent partitions are stops 7 which limit the forward move ment of the records and support them in projected position. vTherear edges of the partitions are cut away at their lower ends onarcuate lines, as shown at 8, to accommodate the rocking supportor platform 9, and above the platform at. the rear of the partitions a transverse stop bar and rest 10 is secured to limit the inward movement of the records and support them in retracted positlon. The platform. or rocking supports extends across the full. width of the cabinet and is pivotally mounted, as at 11*, between its front and rear edges upon the side walls of the cabinet, the pivot or fulcrum being located somewhat nearerthe front edgeof the platform so that, normally, the platform will assume an inclination downwardly and rearwardly andwill maintain the rec ords in retracted position against the rest 10. At the ends of the platform, at the rear edge thereof, I provide tripping devices 11 which are to beengaged by actuating devices to rock the platform and are shown as resilient arms having a rearwardly .projecting striker portion 12 and a recess or notch 13 below said. projecting portion. Bearing plates 14 are secured upon the end walls of the cabinet adjacent the back thereof, and a rock shaft 15 is journaled in and extends between said plates, said shaft having crank plates or rockers 16 at its ends.

Projecting radially from the crank plates '16 are tripping fingers or lugs 17 which are adapted to ride against theprojecting portion 12 of the tripper 1'1 and thereby actuate the same to rock the platform 9 and project the records. -Pivotally attached to one of the rockers or crank plates 16 is the lower end of a link 18 which extends upwardly therefrom and has its upper end pivotally attached to one side of the top, it being noted that this link is disposed in advance of the vertical plane of the rock-shaft 15'so that when the cabinet top is raised the shaft 15 and the crank p1ates'16 will be at once rocked and the trip lugs 17 swung forwardly and upwardly.

Upon the inner face of each crank plate 16 is a lug or bracket 19 to which is pivoted the rear end of a pitman or coupling bar 20 which extends forwardly below the platform 9 and the rests 7 and has its forward end pivoted to a bracket 21 on the door 3 at the lower end of the same. In order to accommodate the angular position of the door when it is opened, the pitman extends forwardly in divergent relation to the side wall of the cabinet and has its forward portion curved outwardly, as at 22, whereby it may extend around the rear or hinged edge of the door when the latter is opened, as will be readily understood upon reference to the dotted lines in Fig. 3. To overcome any tendency of the pitmen to lock, and to close the doors without strain on the hinges, I provide connecting bars 23 which are pivoted at their rear ends to the lugs 19 and extend therefrom obliquely forward andacross the cabinet to meet the respective pitmen. The forward free ends of the connecting bars are longitudinally slotted, as at 24, and are engaged with and supported by headed studs 25 on the underside of the pitmen at the inner rear ends of the curved portions 22 thereof.

Normally, the cabinet is closed, the top being lowered and the records retracted, it being understood that the records are placed onedge on the platform 9 between the par titions 5. The brackets 19 are in rear of the vertical plane of the rock shaft and the trip lugs 17 in front of said plane. If, now, the top 2 be raised, the lugs 17 will be swung upwardly and forwardly while the brackets 19 will move forwardly but will move downwardly and then upwardly so that the vertical range of their movement will be very slight. As a result, the trip lugs 17 will be caused to impinge against the projecting portion 12 of the arms 11 and impart upward movement thereto so that-the front end of the platform will be tilted downwardly and the records will roll to the stops 7 and will rest thereon with the forward portions of their edges rojecting into the door openin of the ca inet. Simultaneously with th1s projecting movement of the records, the doors 3 are swung to open position out of the way of the records through the action of the pitmen 20 and the connecting bars 21. When the crank plates 16 are rocked by the raising of the top 2, the pitmen 20 are at once moved forward and push upon the doors 3 so as to open the same. The connecting bars 23 also move forward but they have also a swinging or turning movement so that they assume position extending somewhat more directly across the cabinet, the headed studs 25 moving to the outer or for ward ends of the slots 24. It will thus be seen that the doors are automatically opened and moved out of the way of the records and the records are simultaneously projected to a position in which any desired record may be readily located and withdrawn for playing. hen the top is lowered, a reverse movement of all the parts occurs so that the records are retracted and the doors closed. In the closing movement, the tripper lugs will ride against the lower walls of the notches 13 and thereby rock the platform 9 so as to raise the front end thereof, as shown in full lines in Figure 2. Simultaneously with this rocking of the platform, the pitmen 20 and connecting bars 23 are drawn rearward, and as the studs 25 are at the for Ward ends of the slots 24, the initial action is a swinging of the front ends of the pitmen toward the center of the cabinet or laterally with respect to the doors so that the swinging of the doors is easily started. Impact of the records against the doors is avoided in my cabinet inasmuch as the doors open simultaneously with the forward movement of the records, the records being supported in a position where they may be easily reached and a selection made.

Having fully described my invention what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is z 1. In a phonograph cabinet, the combination of a tiltable reco-rd'support within the cabinet, means for limiting the travel of records on said support when it is tilted, a rock shaft within the cabinet in rear of the record support, an operative connection between said rock shaft and thetop of the cabinet, a finger carried by the rock shaft, and a trip element on the rear end of the record support projecting into the path of the finger to be engaged thereby whereby rocking of the shaft will effect oscillation of the record support.

2. In a phonograph cabinet, the combination of a tiltable record support, a trip arm upon said support at the rear edge of the same having a projecting striker portion and a notch below said portion, a rock shaft in rear of the support, cranks on said shaft, a

tripping finger on one of the cranks adapted to engage in the notch and against the striker portion of the trip arm, and "means for rocking the shaft. 1

3. In a phonograph cabinet, the combination of a top vertical plane, horizontally swinging doors, a rock shaft mounted in and extending across the cabinet, means for rocking the shaft as the top-of the cabinet is raised or lowered, cranks on said shaft, pitmen connecting said cranks with the doors, and positively acting means for imparting lateral movement to the pitmen as they are moved forwardly and rearwardly by the cranks.

4. In a phonograph cabinet, the combinamounted for movement in a tion of a top mounted for movement in a vertical plane, horizontally swinging doors, a rock shaft mounted in and extending across the cabinet, means for rocking the shaft as the top of the cabinet is raised or lowered, cranks on said shaft, pitmen connecting said cranks with the doors, and connecting bars pivoted to the cranks and extending obliquely forward therefrom across the cabinet and operatively connected with the respective pitmen at the opposite side of the cabinet.

5. In a phonograph cabinet, the combination of a top mounted for movement in a vertical plane, horizontally swinging doors, a rock shaft mounted in and extending across the cabinet, means for rocking the shaft as the top of the cabinet is raised or lowered, cranks on said shaft, pitmen connecting said cranks with the doors, and connecting bars pivoted to the cranks and ex tending obliquely forward therefrom across the cabinet and provided with longitudinally extending slots in their front ends, and studs on the respectively adjacent pitmen engaging said slots. I

6. In a phonograph cabinet, the co1nbination of a top mounted for movement in a vertical plane, horizontally swinging doors, a rock shaft within the cabinet, means whereby raising or lowering of the top will rock the shaft, cranks at the ends of the rock shaft and pitmen connected with said cranks at their rear ends and to the doors at their front ends, the front ends of the pitmen being curved whereby to accommodate the angular position of the doors when they are opened.

In testimony whereof I have signed this specification in the presence of two subscrib ing witnesses.

WILLIAM G. SHIPMAN.

Witnesses:

E. M. SHIPMAN, F. R. PECK. 

